Shorter URLs!

One of the first things you’ll notice with Twiim is the shorter URLs. That’s the main reason why we’ve switched domain names. We have also improved the algorithm that generates the random URLs so we can generate many URLs before ever going over 3 characters.

Improved Theme

We have custom coded a new theme to suit our needs. We feel that the large text and input fields really optimize usability and ease of use. The tables are also optimized for listing your URLs to view at a later date.

Live Statistics

You can now view live stats on any URL. Just add a “?” to the end of any URL and you will receive live statistics and a few handy graphs. We’ve also enabled an opt-in sound to be played when another user visits your URL. This is a fun way to listen to the clicks after you tweet out a link. We are very excited about this feature and thin you will be too!

Google Chrome Extension

When brainstorming ideas for twiim, we figured a Google Chrome extensions was a must. You can now create a shortened URL from any page without ever being redirected. Upon creation the URL is automatically copied to the clipboard so it’s literally a one-click operation.

What’s going to happen to my WiURLs?
We are planning on keeping the WiURLs working for at least another year. We will continue to serve the WiURLs and track statistics, just not allow new urls to be submitted. You images will continue to be hosted a well for an extended period of time. After one year we will look at the statistics and the number of URLs still being clicked, if the number is still high we will continue hosting them until we feel the number is low enough that a limited amount of users will be affected. After this period of time we will transfer the remaining images to twi.im to continue being served so none of your content is lost!

If you would like more information feel free to contact us at support@twi.im

IO Gear KVM Switch

Now what exactly is a KVM switch, Keyboard, Video or Visual Display Unit, Mouse  .

A KVM allows you to connect multiple computers to one mouse and keyboard in this case the IO gear supports two computers be it laptop and desktop or even desktop and desktop, windows , linux and mac . The usual setup of a KVM is the main VGA port goes into your monitor and the other vga outputs go into your computer along with USB plugs for the keyboard and mice.

After setup you can easily switch between two operating systems be it windows and OSX or even both xp and vista. No drivers required just as simple as plug and play. Accessories are even available for your consoles like xbox 360 , ps3 , wii etc for you to connect your KVM to the console. So in the case of my video I show how to use a VGA Gender changer to connect the kvm to a laptop/desktop and xbox 360. This solution saves space and allows you to spare an extra monitor , so instead of buying  two monitors to be used for each machine you can use a kvm for one monitor and keyboard & mouse.

PROS OF THE PRODUCT:

- Save space

-Cross Platform support

-Plug & Play

-Increases Productivity

CONS:

- No support for PS/2 ports for legacy reasons

The Video Review can be viewed below-

Overall thoughts on the KVM is it’s a great product and it is a great tool for the office to utilize one monitor and keyboard+mouse across multiple machines. They’re cheap and range in prices and functionality to support two machines to even 4 or 5. I give the IO Gear KVM a total rating of

4.5/5

The product can be found – http://www.iogear.com/product/GCS22U/

Design

First off the phone itself is now surrounded in stainless steel  chassis , the ergonomic back is now flat with a acrylic back. The new feel for the phone takes getting used to and with it having a more compact and slim design it does feel heavier than previous models though it feels sturdy and made to last. On the top there is your standard 3.5 headphone jack along with a mic for noise canceling . On the side there’s your vibration switch and two volume buttons along with your micro-sim slot. Lastly on the bottom you have your standard 30-pin charger port and your other mic for phones calls and speaker.

Display

The phone also has a new retina display which is a 3.5 inch screen with a 960-640 resolution, this display technology makes text much  smoother and readable on the iPhone and really brings colors to life.  This video from apple explains more of technology built in ,

Camera

The new camera’s on the phone are located both on the back (5 megapixel ) and front of the phone the new internal camera can be used for both photos , videos and face time (apple’s new video chat ).

The back camera can record video in 720p HD and has a LED light , below are some sample of the stunning image quality.

The video review below has test footage of the video camera both in normal light and low light with LED flash.

SOFTWARE

iOS4 itself has tons of features for the iPhone 4 though I’ll save the complete review for another post , it has many cool features like folders , ibooks , multi-task etc. The ios4 is also available for iphone 3G, 3GS but really makes a presence on the iPhone 4 with its speed and performance.

PROS-

• Good Build Quality
• Detailed Displayed
• Fast Performance
• Great Camera Quality

CONS-

• Antennaagate issue
• Flat back takes getting used to
• Personally I prefer the old volume rocker

Overall the phone is a great multi-functional device its a great phone but has a great camera as well and topped with the app-store possibilities for this device are endless it can be a wireless mouse , music remote,  wireless keyboard , alarm clock  , etc. Apple really did a great job on renewing the iphone both astetically and software wise. Despite the antenna issues overall the phone gets a 8.5/10 Rating from me.

RATING : 8.5

Thanks for reading the review feel free to leave your thoughts below.

Download it at: http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

Video Overview:

The first update was to the iMac’s which got a turbo charge speed wise, they now have a turbo boost technology which helps increase the power from cores in your iMac to help in heavy applications like Aperture and final cut pro. The graphics also had an update with availability of  a 4670 or 5670 graphics card in the 21.5 inch model or if you bump up to 27 inch you can get a 5670 or 5750. All together the new iMac is faster processor wise and graphics wise making it one of the best mac desktop deals out there.

They also updated the mac pro line , the pros now support up to a 12 core processor along with it’s standard graphics cards update options and added SSD options for your mac pro configuration a real beast of a machine with even more expandability going down the road.

In the display field the famous LED apple cinema display was upgraded to a 27 inch model for more viewing space and with its isight cam and mic has also included a pair of built in 49 watt speakers for audio playback. Still keeping its LED backlit its one of the most elegant displays out there though of course it still has its high price point,

After the upgrades apple also launched two new products one being the new magic trackpad a cross of the magic mouse and keyboard , a keyboard/tablet sized touch pad fully multi-touch functional like the mouse .  Bringing the  touchpad features to mac desktops for multi-media users alike this device may have a small niche but time will only tell.

Another small product launch was an apple battery recharger which basically is an AC device that recharges your battery an eco-friendly look from apple .

“Reduce,Reuse,Recharge”

A silent yet big updates to old and new products of the Macintosh line up now time will tell on the popularity of the new products . More information can be found at their homepage at

http://www.apple.com

Episode : 75

Hosts:

Adrian Cauguiran

Dan Valverde

Stories

http://delicious.com/kidguru/twp75

-iPhone 4 Antenna Problems

-Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinnect

-File sharers targeted with legal action over music downloads

-Firefox 4

- What to do with passwords

-Google Buys Meta Web

PICKS:

*Ping 2

*Mobile RSS

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Tech-World Podcast 75

http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk

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Mobile Phone Recycling in the UK
If you are thinking about upgrading or buying a new phone, did you consider what you would do with your existing handset? In the UK, over ninety million mobile phones are hidden away in desk drawers and lie idle on desks. As a result, many new phone recycling programs have been launched to create awareness and to try to increase the number of mobile phones being recycled in the United Kingdom.
If you have just bought or upgraded your phone and want to help the environment, then the best way is to look at the many recycling companies, who will incentivise you by giving you money for your old handset. It doesn’t matter if the phone works or not, although you’ll be offered less money for it if it doesn’t work.
Note: The worst thing you can do, is to throw your old mobile phone in the bin. Mobile phones contain several toxins such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic along with others, we do not need to contaminate our landfills or pollute the soil, air and water supplies by doing this.
Many times, these old mobile phones are in good working order so you just need to go onto a mobile phone recycling (links to http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk) comparison site, which helps you to save time and earn money by searching for your make and model of phone. You will then see the prices that the recycling companies will offer and if you are happy with the price quoted, you can then complete the simple online form and then post your old phone to the recycling company, such as envirofone and then wait for your payment.
The recycled phones, which are in working condition, can simply be used by others , such as people who are less fortunate or indeed they can be sent to other countries to help developing worlds. The nonworking phones can be fixed or used to fix other phones, which can then be used for others. Reusing all the usable components and recycling the metals in the handset, lowers the need for new raw materials, as well as lowering the impact on mining for metals on the environment and wildlife.
For more information on recycling mobile phones and for our manufacturer list, please visit, http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk

Have a service that you can recommend for other places in the world , leave your feedback in the comments below.

1. Copy the video ID. K4yzNZAgDYE

2. Insert the video ID into the urls below
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ID-HERE/0.jpg (Video thumbnail. Usually the same as the second)
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ID-HERE/1.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ID-HERE/2.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ID-HERE/3.jpg

Download the new beta @ : http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/

———————-

Follow Me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kidguru

SPECIFICATIONS:

*7 inch screen

*360 Pivot

*800×480 screen resolution

*400:1 Contrast ratio

*350 cd brigtness

PRICE: 84$

—————————–

Now lets start with the pros of the monitor :

-The design is a sleek black and has a sturdy build

-It features a bar stand to lay the monitor at a slant angle to be used as something like a picture fram

-The back features manual brightness buttons

-360 degree swivel

-USB powered

Moving onto the cons of the monitor:

- The swivel tends to make a creaking sound  ( on my model anyways )

-Drivers were outdated and had to be downloaded off their website

So overall the monitor is a great add-on to your set up if your not looking to take up space and just have something nice and stylish to run your background applications that you don’t want to minimize like instant messaging windows , email clients , youtube videos , slideshows etc.  Priced at 84$ the iMo Pivot is a nice sub monitor to add to your workspace if needed , you can view the video review below showing off the iMo Pivot

Where to Buy: http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/imo

OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5

Sorry for the late upload I’ve been busy and haven’t managed to produce the podcasts on schedule though we have lots planned and it will resume normal upload times of Monday each week to bring you daily news…

Stories for each episode can be found at:

http://delicious.com/kidguru/twp73

and

http://delicious.com/kidguru/twp74

—————————————————-

Tech-World Podcast 73- Audio Version:

It’s Face Time

twp73

Tech-World Podcast 74 VIDEO VERSION:

The Internet Kill Switch

Audio : twp74

The new mini offers plenty of ports and a new sleek and curved design, featuring

- 4 USB Port

- 1 HDMI Port

-Firewire 800

-Mini Display

-Ethernet

-Audio in and out

-SD Card Slot

The mini also got a new  Nvidia Geforce 320 M which allows for 2x faster graphics performance and a noticeable increase in gaming ,  HD media , high-res photos etc. It also has storage availability up to 500gb and ram upgradeable to 8gb of memory. Another great design add on is the new twist panel on the bottom which allows for easy access to upgrade the mac mini’s ram .

Size wise the mini is still a compact mac easy to dock anywhere and use a main desktop machine while at the same time is easy enough to disconnect and take on the go.

DIMENSIONS:

Height:

1.4 inches (3.6 cm)

Width:

7.7 inches (19.7 cm)

Depth:

7.7 inches (19.7 cm)

Weight:

3.0 pounds (1.37 kg)

—————————

The new mini comes now in two baseline models

2.4GHz : 320GB

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB memory
• 320GB hard drive¹
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard

• $699.00

and a new server edition

2.66GHz : Dual 500GB – Snow Leopard Server Edition

• 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB memory
• Dual 500GB 7200-rpm hard drives¹
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics
• Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard

• $999.00

My overall thoughts is the new mac mini offers much more with faster hardware (CPU,RAM,GRAPHICS) and packed with ports and snow leopard its a much more affordable and compact mac to get a for a new user or just a user looking to add a new mac into the family without spending 1,000+. Though I think the magic price point appeal that use to be when the mini was 400-500 $ and now raised to around 700 $ it adds less of an appeal. Not only that there’s still extra costs if you want a monitor and keyboard & mouse . So I think this is more of a new user computer as if your looking for a mac setup you can of course use an existing monitor etc , or spend even more on the cinema displays.  The design does make up for price as you get faster hardware a portable desktop and plenty of room for expansion and customizable options on the site . If your interested in the Mac Mini check it out over here : http://wiurl.com/macmini

Leave your thoughts on the new mini below…

• 9.3mm thick, 24% thinner than current iPhone
• 5 Mp Camera with LED flash on back
• New Retina Display at 326 ppi (960 x 640)
• Apple A4 Processor (1GHz ?)
• HD video recording (720P)
• Video calls (Wi-Fi only in 2010)

iPhone 4 will be released June 24th for $199 (16Gb) and $299 (32Gb) Apple also announced a few things that were not limited to iPhone 4 such as iBooks and iMovie along with renaming iPhone/iPad OS to iOS 4.

Latest tech-news for the week filled along side with tips and other useful info…

HOST: Adrian

May 28th, 2010

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SHOW NOTES:

iPhone 3GS now for 97$

WWDC + Microsoft= ??? (Update tweet from Microsoft =  http://twitter.com/Microsoft/status/14850981422 )

Acer 7-inch Android Tablet

Google TV web meets TV , TV meets Web

BREAK

Scientist infects himself with computer virus

Yahoo purchases koprol

AT&T offers free wi-fi in centeral park

SquareSpace AD – Design a great website without a need to hire a web designer start a site with squarespace, try  2 weeks free and use the promo code :  techworld and save 10% on your order.

TabNapping new Phishing attack on the lose

Lucid Lynx Ubuntu 10.04 released

Pick of the week: Docs2Go for the iPhone/iTouch

Enjoy the show! Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below…

There are some issues embedding the player so please click the link below

TWP 72